NOVEMBER 2022HR TECH OUTLOOK EUROPE8FOSTERING THE PERSONAL CONNECTIONClive Hawkins, Senior IT Director, Wyndham Destinations Asia PacificByThe perception persists that IT professionals are overwhelmingly task-oriented people: introverts who prefer dealing with machines than people. While there are some compelling reasons for the stereotype, the work we do does not dictate the type of people we are. Even though most of our work is machine-related, we must remember the most important aspects of our work involve interaction with others.CONNECTING WITH YOUR TEAMI am the Senior Director of IT at Wyndham Destinations Asia Pacific, part of Wyndham Destinations, a business line of Travel + Leisure Co., the world's largest membership and leisure travel company. I have led the team since joining the company in 2007 and, over the years, that role has evolved.We have expanded into different markets and my team has become international. I have learnt about other cultures and how to manage remotely. We work increasingly in an environment where data security is critical, automation is common, office hot desking is a reality, and more work is conducted from home or on the road than ever before.In this environment of remote working and artificial intelligence, I still find an ability to build personal connections has never been more important.Leadership continues to be an undervalued trait, particularly in information technology. As a team leader myself, I quickly learnt that every person who works in our field is different, and you have to understand them to successfully motivate them. Many leaders treat their team members as they would want to be treated; I made this mistake early with a team, by empowering them and letting them do their work, as leadership theory teaches. It turned out, some people felt abandoned! By all means, people must be treated with courtesy, but different people will require different interaction with their leader.However, I still believe strongly in empowering my team and trusting them to complete their work; micro-managing does not yield satisfactory results. I also think it is important that people understand why they are doing what they do. Knowing why raises the importance of work and demonstrates to your team members their own impact. It also helps prioritise; the more of the bigger picture we understand, the easier it becomes for us to determine our priorities.Every week, I compile a weekly newsletter for my team at Wyndham. At first, it was a way to inform the team about who was working on what. Then I slipped some personal information at the bottom ­ for example, a brief line about holidays people had enjoyed ­ and I realised my team read those personal tidbits first. I turned the newsletter upside down to include those personal notes first and we added in things like Netflix suggestions and thoughts of the week. It was just a small idea but it has been invaluable helping us understand each other and collaborate together, and it showed me better than anything the value of the personal connection among my own team.CONNECTING UPLINE AND PLANNINGBeing able to connect with key decision makers within your business is a vital part of strategic planning. These executive leaders can help you understand the bigger picture and shape Clive Hawkins
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